we're going to be here live today, tomorrow and wednesday. we'll see you back here tomorrow. for now, here wolf blitzer and "the situation room" starts right now. happening now, primary even florida and mitt romney's campaign is going at newt gingrich full tors. we're going the former house speaker is being seen as on the ropes. and a loud standoff in washington between occupy protesters who refuse to leave and police who want to disband their camp. next few hours could be the most tense yet. plus, a doctor accused of treason for helping the cia find osama bin laden. will pakistan put him on trial? i'm wolf blitzer at the cnn election center and you're in "the situation room."

he arrived with a swagger fresh off his impressive south carolina victory but what a difference nine days have made for newt gingrich in florida. on this, the eve of the state's closely-watched primary, gingrich is facing an all-out assault from mitt romney formidable operation in florida. joe johns is seeing it first hand and he had a one-on-one interview with newt gingrich earlier in the day and we'll see that at the bottom of the hour. mean time, joe, 15 hours until the polls open. what's the latest? >> well, wolf, it has been a very hectic 24 hours for the gingrich campaign and a very different picture of the races starting to emerge since gingrich took the palmetto state by storm. this was a far cry from his big chilling in south carolina where former georgia congressman, newt gingrich, got the favorite "son of the south" treatment. in florida his campaign came

under attack from every direction imaginable. starting with a massive television advertising campaign that gingrich referred to in military terms. >> he has a basic policy of carpet bombing his opponent. he doesn't try to build up mitt romney he just tries to tear down whoever he's running against. >> and the ads we only the beginning. the surrogates starting to show up at gingrich events responding to his speeches almost many real time. >> they've gone to the point where the former speak's secretary had no position but to confront him, taking the attention off of the focus of the event which was the speech. >> goich is more qualified and that's why you're following him instead of romney? >> absolutely no. i'm going to offer a little perspective. >> on why you think -- >> why i think mitt romney should be the president of the united states. >> all right. >> there was seemingly no place

for the gingrich campaign to run or hide from the onslaught and they didn't seem to have an effective way to defend themselves. when gingrich showed up to speak at this well-attended event on sunday and the sprawling retirement community known at "the villages." they reprinted a letter from bob dole endorsing romney in the community newspaper. even the pro-super pac could him him that much. rick tyler a gingrich supporter said they couldn't compete with the money. >> my understanding is they spent $15 million, their super pac, which i lovingly refer to as "destroy our future." and we've sent about $6 million so we can't match them dollar-for-dollar but i think this is really a grassroots campaign. >> gingrich said he plans to stay in the race all the way to the convention and in an interview he described a campaign going forward that sharply characterizes mitt romney. >> we're going to tell the truth, much more explicitly and much more aggressively. i don't believe the republican party will nominate a liberal.

>> the romney organization flake frankly has been working on florida at other states as well and now the gingrich camp has to show how they will compete. >> and the crowds are impressive at the gingrich events in florida? >> there have been a lot of crowds that have been very impressive especial hi at the villages yesterday on sunday. but we've also seen some smaller crowds. we saw a very smaud crowd at a church setting in the orlando area. so i it sort of varies. very different i would say from south carolina where it seemed like everywhere he went the crowds grew and grew as you got closer to the primary, wolf. >> only a fewer hours left to go. thank you very much, joe. mitt romney appears to be taking some pleasure from newt gingrich's position and he says the former speaker is quote, fla flailing. listen to this. >> this sure is fun. what a day this is. with a turnout like this i'm

beginning we feel we might win tomorrow. what do you think? gosh, you know, i know the speaker's not real happy, speaker gingrich. he's not feeling very excited these days. it's sad. he's been flailing around a bit trying to go after me for one thing or the other and you watch it and smhake your head. it's painfully revealing to watch but i think the reason he suspect doing so well is because of the last two debates. don't you think? >> a lot more presidential politics coming up including joe johns one-on-one interview with newt gingrich only a few minutes away. and stay with us tomorrow for complete coverage of the florida primary right here in the situation room continuing "john king usa." and at 7:00 p.m. eastern, i'll join cooper anderson and we're

following a potentialously explosive situation in washington, d.c. where occupy protesters are vowing to stay their ground as police try to disband their camp. the next few hours could be the most intense. brian todd has been there all day watching what's going on. what's the latest, brian? >> wolf this has been one of the most active and contentious periods since the occupiersed here in october. look behind me and you've got the statue of james macpherson here. they pulled a huge tarp over it stamped with protest sayings and everything here. what's going on is the police say they may move in here soon to crackdown on what they call "campers." they want people to remove bedding and personal items. anything that's a sign that people are going to stay operate here but as you can see, the protesters are really not moving and they have vowed to stay here so we could have some confrontation here in the next few hours. again, the police have come through here and done a walk-through to check out some

of these encampments to see if people are actually going to be sleeping. people have removed some of their bedding and we've been told by the police there have been some compliance so they don't expect mass arrests and they'll only target certain people in violation. but if it gets contentious and if a lot of people stay and are determined to sleep here, there could be some trouble. against the back trop of more tension in recent hours between the protesters and police. [ chanting ] a massive tarp stamped with protest messages is pulled over the statue of civil war hero, james macpherson. these occupy d.c. protesters have been here since october expressing sustained anger over what they believe is an out of touch corporate, financial and political elite. but the national park service has been pressured by some in congress and the d.c. government to crackdown. so park service police have moved open campers getting protesters to remove bedding and

personal items so they don't stay overnight. so far, no mass arrests but most protesters vow to stay. and tension the building. evidence to when a police news conference was interrupted. >> it's our goal that we can have everybody exercise the first amendment rights but they also must be able to do so in a manner that's healthy and safe within this environment. >> so if you don't comply you get tazed? >> i'm pretty sure we do because it happened yesterday. do we get tazed? >> we're looking for compliance. >> the protester was talking about an incident on sunday night when police used a taser on a decembmonstrator. the man went from tent to tent removing notices from the park service but the park service haven't commented. officers heard loudly about their tactics later. this protester is kind of taunting the park police here and the police kind of standing at the ready possibly to move

in. a couple protestingeers are stag here and kind of taunting them so tensions are rising. i asked protester emily margaret about what prompted the police to tighten up. >> local businessmen have complained about sanitation and petty crime and their they're fed up with it. >> i would say they're way worse crimes going on in this city than what's going on here. there are issues here but, you know, that's what happens in our society. it's like a my cosm of our society. >> this is their time if not now, when. let's go to pakistan where the government is deciding how to punish a man who is said to have helped the cia find osama

bin laden. the pakistani physician collected dna from residents of bin laden's comment which the cia used to verify bin laden was there. the doctor may be charged by the pakistani government with treason. the defense secretary, leon panetta who oversaw the raid ben l bin laden's -- >> i'm very concerned with what the pakistanis did with this individual. this individual, in fact, helped provide intelligence on -- that was very helpful with regard to this operation. and he was not in any way treasonist towards pakistan or doing anything that would have undermined pakistan. as a matter of fact, if pakistan's -- and i've always said this -- pakistan and the united states have a common

cause here against terrorism. >> let's bring in our national security contributor, fran townsend, a member of cia and homeland security, external advisory boards. based on your experience at the white house, you worked there during the bush administration, some sources are now suggesting that secretary panetta may have revealed, confirmed a confidential source, namely this physician. is this a potential problem? >> wolf, what we don't know is what -- why leon panetta, formerly the cia director, would have confirmed this. whether or not there was a reason for it. in other words, to the extent that leon panetta confirms a source, it will put pressure on pakistan. pakistan has complained since the raid that that was a violation of their sovereignty and this is just an extension of that. the use of a potential source inside pakistan without the pakistani's knowledge. but what makes it odd is normally these are the sorts of disagreements between services,

intelligence services best handled quietly, whether that's directly between somebody like the cia and isi. or with a third country that can negotiate for the resolution. so we don't know whether or not leon panetta made a conscious decision and that that information has been declassified for him to reveal it or whether, frankly, this was a misstep. >> because this physician is facing potentially treason charges and he could face the death penalty in pakistan for asissing the united states, namely, a foreign intelligence service, the cia, in helping the united states find bin laden and i assume the pakistanis are arguing -- you can't just help any foreign intelligence service, whether friend or foe? >> that's right. but if you play out the current path that the pakistanis are on and i think leon panetta makes this point well. this is not in their interest to ultimately pursue this to a trial and potential imprisonment or death penalty. after all, while they may

disagree with how the u.s. government went about gathering the intelligence or executing the raid, in the end, the outcome was a shared goal between the us and pakistan and what they need to do like we have with so many other disputes with our pakistani allies is work through this and understand future rules of engagement. >> i assume the pakistanis understand. maybe they don't care but i aaassume they understand as seen here in the united states, this physician is a hero. he helped the u.s. find and kill bin laden who committed all these acts of atrocity and now they want to try him for treason? this country receives billions of dollars of u.s. saw substance. do they not care about this overall u.s./pakistani relationship and the enormous assistance the united states provides pakistan? >> i think they care tremendously about it. you make the point, it's a tremendous amount of military aid we provide. but there's a sense of pride and that's at the crux of the sovereignty argument and

frankly, the aid is being based on certain cooperations and conditions and they resent that. this is their way of pushing back on the u.s. sort of applying conditions to the cooperation and the relationship. what they want to talk about is the violation of their sovereignty on november 26th killing -- raid that resulted in the deaths of pakistanis. they're talking about the things they're upset about and what they're looking to do is push back u.s. criticism right now. >> uls/pakistani relations going down, down, down, not good for either country, fran. thank you very much. the white house is fed up and says now republicans are simply way out of bounds. >> if you are so desperate for attention that you make an analogy that michael -- inappropriate, you know, you've probably gone too far. >> we'll show you what the president's press secretary is

drawing a line in the sand about. and one-on-one with newt gingrich. he speaks to our own joe johns about the relentless romney assault he faces. >> and the extreme measure syrian protesters have to take as they risk their lives to speak out against the regime. and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. and our great taste is guaranteed or your money back. learn more at boost.com. [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost. you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm?

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here's jack with the cafferty file. >> president obama proposed 30% tax on millionaires would be a tiny drop in the bucket when it comes to solving this country's deepening financial crisis. the white house isn't too interested in talking about the impact of the so-called "buffett rule." and here's why. tax experts suggest the additional tax on the wealthy would raise about $40 billion a year in revenue. that's less that 1% of what the government spent in 2011. $40 billion is nothing compared to the more than $1 trillion annual deficits the obama administration is running or the

national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion. republicans say the plan's nothing more than a political charade. one congressman told politico the president wants to quote, pit one group against another so he can raise more money to spend on a bloated government, unquote. in his state of the union address, president obama suggested it comes down to tax cuts for the wealthiest or investments in everything else. funding for education, medical research, the military. president obama senior strategist, david axelrod said on "meet the press" yesterday in order to solve the deficit quote everyone will have to give a little and that includes people at the top. what about cutting the size of government? what about cutting spending? meanwhile, a new gallup poll shows americans are divide on whether the economic is unfair. 49% agree with the president and say it's unfair. 45% say it's fair. however, a majority, 62%, say the economic system is fair to them personally.

and that could make president obama's re-election strategy of giving everyone a fair shake a tough sell if most americans think the economic system is fair to them. here's the question -- is a 30% tax on millionaires a good idea? go to cnn.com/cafferty file and post comment on my blog or go to our post on our situation room's facebook page, wolf? thank you very much. it's a mission that's designed to help americans buy homes but now there are reports that the mortgage giant freddie mac owned by taxpayers, has actually been bedding billions and billions of dollars, get this, against american homeowners. against american homeowners. cnn lisa sylvester is looking into this story for us. what's going on here? >> reporter: freddie mac is a quasi government agency and chartered by congress and its whole goal is to expand opportunities for home ownership but it had to be bailed out along with fannie mae by some $100 billion.

it is allowed, however, to do wall street trades which is significant because these represent home mortgages. your mortgage, my mortgage, they all get bundled together and they are sold as securities on wall street. now, what online magazine and npr news found is that what freddie mac is doing is taking a portion of these mortgaged securities, the interest portion and they have essentially been purchasing them to the tune of $3.4 billion! the reason why that's significant is the higher your interest rate is, the more money that freddie mac gets. at the same time, freddie mac has been tightening the rules on who is allowed to refinance out of high-interest loans. >> the crux of the story is that at the same time they're crucial gate death keeper about house, finance, who can get a home loan and who can get a refinancing in this country and they made it harder to get those so they had

a financial incentive that was against homeowners being able to refinance and simultaneously made it harder for people to refinance. >> so what does freddie mac say? we asked them and they gave us a statement essentially saying side of freddie mac setting rules on refinancing is separate from the side and fault in trading. they said, quote, freddie mac employees that purchase and sell financial instruments are walled off from other freddie mac personnel. freddie mac also pointed out its record of helping homeowners saying, quote, during the first three quarters of 2011 we refinanced more than 170 billion mortgages helping nearly 835,000 borrowers. but this is still going to raise a lot of questions, particularly is there a conflict of interest at freddie mac? >> lisa, thank you. one-on-one with newt gingrich. he's hammering away at mitt romney and these, the final hours before the florida primary. >> i don't believe the republican party is going to nominate a lib wal who is pro

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we're less than 15 hours away from the polls opening in florida in the florida republican primary and the battle between mitt romney and newt gingrich is very personal. gingrich is facing a relentless assault by the the romney campaign but he's fighting back and hammering away at romney's conservative credentials. gingrich went one-on-one a little while ago with cnn's joe johns. >> it's been said that you sort of -- and you tell me whether this is true -- that you didn't have an answer when the romney campaign sort of dud the

full-court press, the carpet bombing. what's your answer going to be when you move from florida to some of these other states? >> we'll tell the truth much more explicitly and much more aggressively. george sorrows said it, there's no difference between romney and obama. he doesn't care which one wins. gingrich is different. here you have the leading left wing billionaire in the world saying to the europeans, romney and obama are the same people. you have an article today in the "wall street journal." no difference between romney care and obama care. but i don't believe the republican party is going to nominate a liberal who is pro-abortion, progun control, protax increase and progay rights and i don't think romney, frankly, can raise enough money to sustain the falsehoods that are the base of his campaign. >> how do you compete on television ads? that's been a problem for you? >> i think you compete with clarity to the american people using every form of media and i'm very comfortable that as we walk through how big the gap is between romney's liberalism and

obama on the one hand, and a reagan conservative on the other i think you'll find resources pouring out. the republican-party base does not want to nominate somebody that represents the establishment and wall street and new york. >> you keep your own council, a lot of people say. how does that work for you? is that effective? do you need more people who have your ear, doing your bidding? >> well, i'll tell you what, there's nothing like $17.5 million of false ads. you guys counted me out three times so far this year. we'll do fine. romney managed to run more falsehoods. the debate is a good example. the reason i seemed flat in the second debate in florida is, i have never seen a candidate for president that methodically dishonest. i was thinking, how can you say these things you know are falsehoods? that's why i was quiet. there was no civil way to call him out on what was, in fact, a series of falsehoods that were

astonishing. >> a different strategy in these caucus states? >> i think you'll see us be very explicit about just how liberal he is and just how dishonest he is and you'll see us lay out for the country, you want romney care and obama care? they're the same person. you want a war on the catholic church by obama? guess what? romney refused to allow catholic hospitals to have conscience in dealing with certain circumstances. romney cut off kosher food for elderly jews on medicare. both of them have the same lack of concern for religious liberty. you want somebody that raises taxes? romney raised enough taxes and he's third from the bottom on job creation. we're going to be very explicit about his record and how can a guy that's a great manager not file 23 foreign holdings last year when he filed. and how can he two through -- how can he have signed a

document saying he provided services for paying part of his income tax when he told everybody he didn't provide services for bain. a lot of pieces of mitt romney don't hold up once you start looking at them honestly. coming up, we'll hear from a high-profile mitt romney supporter. senator john mccain joining us live right here in "the situation room" and joining us right now our strategy session, our cnn contributors, paul begala and mary matalin. did you hear what he said about mitt romney, the man that might be the republican nominee, that he's dishonest, he's liberal. he's progay, you can't trust him. he didn't say that in the last debate thursday thiet. what's going on here? >> well, that's still a better rendition in a primary squabble, which is painful. i don't care what side you're on, primaries are the worst but that's better than when newt focuses on himself or the

process. when he talks about the negative ads or all of that, that's not what got him to his assent. his assent was wholly based on his passionate and confident championship of conservatism. that's when he does best. and when he contrasts that with obama, now he's contrasting it with mitt romney and that's what primaries are about. when he goes to the personal, i think -- i say that of all the candidates. when -- that turns off the conservative voters. it turns off all voters actually. >> it's gotten very personal as you can see. it's not just talking about policy issues, it's talking about mitt romney's character. >> it does not turn off all voters, mary. i haven't been this turned on since when i found my first "playboy" magazine when i was 14. i think this is great stuff. he just mad an ad for us because he did, mary is right. he went right to character. that was a personal attack and he said that mitt romney's dishonest.

it's going to be really hard to walk that back if romney winds up the nominee. so i can't thank speaker gingrich enough. but i agree with both candidates when they attack each other. when mitt romney says gingrich is erratic and unfit. and when newt says that romney is dishonest, i'm loving that for the same reason mary's not, the democrat, this is nothing but fun. >> listen to mitt romney earlier in the day, mary. i'll play this clip for you because he's really making fun, sort of ridiculing newt gingrich. >> speaker gingrich wasn't very happy with the debates. he said after the first debate that he didn't the well because the crowd was so quiet. it threw him off. yeah. the second debate he said he didn't do well because the crowd was so loud. so i think the real reason he hadn't done so well connecting with the people of florida is that the people actually saw him in those debates and listened to his background and experience and -- >> does he have a fair point

there, mary? >> well, it's irrefutable that mitt romney is a better candidate and is showing more fight because newt gingrich did as well as he did in the debates. that was the other concern of conservatives. it wasn't just his record in massachusetts. and some of the other things the other candidates have brought up. it's can he fight? and he's proved that he can fight and i would ask newt to remember what newt saad about romney when romney was attacking newt. if you think this kitchen is hot, what do you think obama's going to do? there's nothing romney can say about newt or newt is going to say about mitt that will hold a candle to the scorched earth at president obama's going to do in the fall. >> i think it's fair, paul, so they that either of these candidates will probably be a better candidate against president obama if one of them should get the nomination, based on all this preliminary work they're going that you right now. >> well, it is true that this is

making them better debaters. they're already good debaters and intelligent men. here's where it's hurting them. these character attacks. when one of the leading figures in your party says you're dishonest and a lot of voters believe it's true -- i happen to agree with them -- it hurts. and it also hurts that gingrich is dragging romney to the far right. mitt romney has such an extreme position on immigration i think he'll have an impossible time of getting any respectable percentage of latino vote. the primaries make your tougher and smarter and more agile but they can hurt terribly when fundamental issues of character are raised the way newt is raising them about romney and they seem to be resonating with a lot of voters and the ideological forces pull him out of the mainstream, that's where they hurt. >> listen to this clip. this is a clip where he sees the chairman of the republican party, a response from jay carney and he's accusing the

president of the united states of behaving like that captain that hated captain of the costa concordia off the coast of italy. listen to this. >> in a few months this is all going to be ancient history and we're going to talk about our own little captain which is president obama abandoning the ship here in the united states and is more interesting in campaigning than doing his job as president. >> if you are so desperate for attention that you make an analogy that michael steele deems inappropriate, you know you've probably gone too far. >> michael steele, the former republican party chairman. did the current chairman go too far, mary? >> i'm sorry michael steele is on msnbc. i'm sorry pore him on that. he's consecutively outraising the dnc for many months now. many corners, and in deploying the resources quite well, professional get out the vote team and communication's team.

he's a great chairman. and he has a great message. and we had a rule when we were in the white house -- i don't know, democrats don't do this -- the white house press secretary did you want do politics from the podium. he doesn't take on the chairman of opposite party so if guess it's all campaign all the time at this white house. >> i take that as a "no" you don't think he went too far. what about you, paul? >> i feel czarry for him. these are tough days to be a republican. they were leading and now they're losing and if you look at the polling data, voters are watching these primaries and they are repulsed. swing vote eers, not the democrats. but swing voters with repulsed by it and it's really hurting the republicans and so you can expect the party chairman to lash out like that. they held themselves to a much higher standard with mary matalin and i don't hold him to that high standard so i give him some slack. he's no mary matalin but he's

just a party chairman. >> stop it, stop it. that's one of your beautiful tactics. i'm not taking the bait. he's a far better professional than i do. and james still has his magazines from when he was 14 and that's why you guys are best friends. >> thank you very much. we'll be back. driving through dark alleyways to escape armed gunmen, we go on an extraordinary trip experienced by very few people. how is the u.s. military preparing for a possible, repeat, possible fight with iran? [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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tomorrow's the deadline for the so-called super pacs to disclose their donors. erin, are we expecting any major surprises? >> we know we're going to be hearing about a lot of money. you may know there's hey loophole. if a super pac has a charitable arm they might not have to disclose all of their donors but tomorrow when we hear from mitt romney and newt gingrich's super pacs you'll get all the donors. neither has a charitable arm so there's no loophole. we'll see them all and it will be big money. a couple things i'm looking for that ll interesting. sheldon aidleson, the las vegas billionaire, apparently didn't start giving massive amounts of money to newt gingrich until the end of january so we might not even see that $15 million we keep hearing so much about, to see exactly how much money it was. that's something to keep in miepd and with mitt romney, i'm

actually looking here at the what they look like, the forms. this is what we got in june which is the last time we heard from any of the super pacs. newt gingrich didn't have one at the time. mitt romney did and i've read through all of this in its entirety. there were 90 donors and the lowest one was about $205,000 to mitt romney in the end of the summer so the next six months you'll see significantly more money. it was $12 million last time around and you'll see who doubled down. one thing that stands out on mitt romney's list, big mormon money from the marriotts and the private equity industry, whether it be from companies like bain but kkr and you have a lot of investors and a lot of real estate money. which is interesting. and a lot of ceos from some of the exchanges just an example where people trade so that's what you're going to see in mitt romney's. and then, of course, you'll be getting the first from president obama, wolf, and we'll see what gets disclosed. they have the ability to use

that loophole. >> if you're anybody, you got to have a super pac and all these guys now have super pacs. we'll check back with you tomorrow. erin, thaumplg. we'll have more at 7:00 p.m. eastern erin burnett "out front 37. next, going inside the syrian opposition. ing water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene. all the biotene products like the oral rinse...the sprays have enzymes in them. the whole formulation just works very well. it leaves the mouth feeling fresh. if i'm happy with the results and my patients are happy with the results, i don't need to look any farther. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

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lisa sylvester is monitoring more stories including more fallout for a connecticut mayor. >> the town's police chief is retiring following a federal investigation into racial profiling by the force. four officers have been arrested for allegedly mistreating latinos. east haven's mayor brought national attention to the issue when he told a reporter that he might's tacos to support the city's latino community. he has apologized twice for that comment. and no surprise here. crashing a cruise liner is expensive. carnival corporation says it

will lose between $375 and $395 million this year because of the costa concordia wreck. at least 17 people have died. 15 are still missing. and the bill and melinda foundation is plemging $350 million to fight tropical diseases the goal is to eliminate ten diseases by the end of the the decade. 13 pharmaceutical companies, the world bank and multiple countries including the united states, are also giving to the cause, wolf? >> lisa, thank you. for some people in syria, this happens daily. >> the government might actually be coming in so now everyone is rushing away as fast as possible. >> we have to go faster. >> arwa damon goes underground with the opposition inside the battle for syria. stand by for an amazing report. you'll want to see this. en to ty progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy.

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jack's back with the cafferty file. >> indeed. the question is, a 30% tax on millionaires a good idea? robert in florida, no, jack, it's not a good idea. the mindless cool aid drinkers

are buying into it. the rich pay their fair share and part of mine along with 50% of other americans that don't pay that much either. let's stop spending money on bailouts and si lin dra's and other bad choices before we ask for more money from others. to demonize the rich is only obama's attempt to distract from his failed policies. dan in pennsylvania writes -- a 30% tax on millionaires is not a good idea, it's a great idea. however it should be accompaniedly removing more tax breaks and safe havens, the very wealthy have rangeled in legislation of years through using with k street gang. after many changes to the tax laws that put a greater burden on the average american it would be unfair to call it even and start with a flat tax. tom in atlanta writes -- the administration doesn't get it. they team seem to think in the spirit of fairness everybody should be economically equal and ignore the data that shows when we give incentives to those that employ others everyone gains. what's fair is when you encourage me to employ people

rather than causing me to slow down and lay them off in order to save the company and it's investors. the administration is playing its reference to unfair unfairly. it might work but it's just plain stupid. and burt in los angeles writes -- jack, a 30% tax on millionaires is a small step in the right direction and a step away from the reagan onlyics fiasco. we need to take our country back by dumping the aristocratic ideas the same we dumped the tea in the boston harbor a long time ago. and joe writes, a drop in the bucket is still, at least, a drop. go to my blog to read more. or on our post in "the situation room"'s facebook page. wolf? thank you. thousands and thousands of people killed for speaking out against their government. cnn's arwa damon takes us inside the syrian opposition. and in the next hour, the u.s. transportation secretary's son taking refuge at the u.s.

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...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. dozens of new deaths are reported in syria as the government's brutal crackdown on its opponents continues.

activists in syria say at least 100 people have been killed thnts day but the mounting total is not discouraging anti-government protesters. arwa damon follows some of them in their deadly game of cat and mouse with security forces in damascus. >> reporter: we drive in tense silence. the opposition activists we're with checking to make sure we're not being followed. down dark alleyway we change vehicles. we're in the heart of damascus. this 21 year old goes by the pseudonym of -- he's a first-year medical student. what he's witnessed, haunting. >> a whole lot of things and my friends, what does it mean when your friends are hurting and you can't do anything and some people they -- it was really hard for me. my friend which i growed up with

them since i was 1 year old. and i couldn't do anything. i have nothing to do -- >> reporter: the losses fueled his determination. 11 months my the uprising, the activists have it down to a science. spotters are prepositioned. >> we watch if anybody coming there. >> it's a joke here. >> reporter: there are posters and other materials hidden in a safe house along with tiny printed leaflets ready to be scattered. so this is your message to the people staying silent? isn't it about time, haven't they, the regime, filled the land with enough bad things? demonstrators move in groups of two or three to avoid attracting attention. >> now they will go to other streets and hide. >> reporter: at the signal, the street erupted into activity. everyone has a duty.

the revolution's flag ripples above the crowd. the syrian flag before the bath party took over. more than 40 years ago. the leaflets reined down like confetti. >> reporter: one of the chance we're hearing to what translates to men, we're slaves for you, oh, lord, that chant, the activists say, has become especially 3r078 nent because they feel the arab league, the united nations and the international community have all abandoned them. they say at this stage all they have left is their courage and determination and their faith in god. every night the protesters do this. their numbers are small and their determination is not. >> this is not just people that think -- a symbol or a demonstration. this is a very big deal. we're facing bad regime. we have to do this.

one of the hardest things that we have to do, daily. >> reporter: oh, how nice is freedom, the crowd chants. but every night the protest is short-lived. ten minutes after it started -- the government might actually coming in so everyone is rushing away as fast as possible. >> we'll have to go fast. >> they leave the flag behind to make a point. that even if just for a while they did it. they are just telling us that we have to go faster. the government is moving in from all sides right now. another deadly game of cat and mouse in the syrian capital. >> and wolf -- >> arwa, i wanted to ask you, before i let you go, first of all, thank you for your terrific reporting. all this diplomacy going on at the u.n. security counsel right now asking bashar all assad to step down, sit real will you going to make a difference on

the ground? >> well, if he does step down and hand over power to his vice president as the resolution is proposing and that proposal, of course, based on the arab league peace plan, it could potentially make a difference. a lot of the activists we've been talking to are saying that they would possibly find that to be a digestible solution. at the end of the day it is the only plan that is out there. should this resolution not go through one can certainly imagine that we'll just keep seeing this cycle continuing. a cycle that's going more violent by the day, wolf. >> arwa damon, thanks very, very much. you're in "the situation room." happening now, a new level of fear in egypt. not just from protesters but forites citizens. this hour, a rare and disturbing move, americans taking shelter at the u.s. embassy in cairo. also, blistering new criticism of president obama in an unlikely place, sunday mass. many american catholics got an

earful this weekend about a new policy that's being called "an assault on religious freedom." and a highway of death in florida. survivors sthar horrendous details about a series of crashes. in a hayes of smoke and pure chaos. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world, breaking news, political headlines and jeanne moos. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." we begib with a startling new assessment of iran's nuclear program. the defense secretary leon panetta says tehran could build a nuclear weapon within a year if it wants to. he says the united states will do whatever it takes to try to make sure that does not happen.

iran has repeatedly denied its developing a nuclear bomb but the u.s. military seems to be preparing for the worst case scenario. we'll bring no our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence. >> some of their weapons have been in development for years and don't just concern iran. but you're right. there's an added urgency now, including going back and asking congress for more money to make sure that the u.s. military has the best possible contingency options if it has to use them. tensions with iran kopt to rise, the u.s. military is expanding a and. >> that's a red line for us. >> and a red line for the israeli. >> reporter: the pentagon is trying to fix problems with it's bunker buster bomb to improve its capability to smash through

hardened fo eed fortify occasio >> and if you bury deep into a mountain you can attack the entrance but it's much, much harder to attack the facility inside it. >> the u.s. is converting an aging warship into a floating base for special operation's forces and small quick reaction boats. >> so we're building up a mother ship in part because we need to deal with low-level esi metric threats in the gulf. things like mine warfare. the possibility that they might use their naval revolutionary guards to attack offshore targets. or to attack critical targets like the plants on the coast. >> reporter: both moves are part of a larger expansion of larger capability in the region. >> we announced we're putting missile defense ship into the mediterranean. those ships could move to the coast of israel. and provide a much stronger

missile net against the most probable target of iran's missiles. we know that we are also building up things like our electronic warfare capability. >> now, u.s. intelligence officials say they do not believe that iran has made that decision to go for the bomb yet. but the most devastating sanctions ever imposed on iran by the u.s. and europe, don't take full effect for another three or four months and no one knows what iran will do once those sanctions really start to hit home, wolf. >> chris lawrence, thank you. the united states is due to give egypt well over a billion dollars in military assistance this year. and the u.s. -- and this is what the u.s. gets. listen to this right now. several american citizens apparently felt so threatened by the egyptian government they took refuge at the u.s. embassy

in cairo. this is an extraordinary move. jill doughtery has been doing reporting on this crackdown on what's going on. jill, what do you know? >> the showdown with egypt is going from bad to worse and ironically it's happening with the country the united states considers it's friend. a handful of staff from an american democracy support group working in egypt under investigations by egyptian authorities have now taken refuge at the u.s. embassy in cairo. among them, sam la hood, son of transportation secretary ray la hood. egyptians director for the international republican institute. he and other americans staff working for similar groups, are banned from leaving the country after egyptian security forces raided their offices. in a telephone interview with cnn last thursday, before going to the members, sam la hood said he felt safe but was concerned.

>> our attorney believed that the fact that the judge took this additional step of preventing us from traveling is, you know, indicates a more serious -- a more serious step along in his investigation. >> reporter: the state department calls it a unique situation and says the americans were invited by embassy. >> we don't feel like they're in physical danger which is different than -- >> we're told the decision for the americans to go to the embassy was made because there was concern that arrest and trial could be imminent. that makes for a tricky situation for the state department. the department's own foreign affairs' manual states -- refuge can only be sought out of concern for safety, not if it is apaemptly intended to revent or avoid the execution of the laws of a host country.

is this special treatment for the son of a cabinet secretary? a former ambassador to egypt doesn't think so. he says it's a way for the embassy to give themselves some wiggle room. >> nobody is claiming these folks will face mortal danger if they leave the embassy and they're there by invitation. so it's a clever act by the embassy to remove the immediate precipant while situations could get worse. >> reporter: and all this is happening just as egyptian military delegation is here in washington, d.c. they're meeting with the pentagon, with the state department and beyond capitol hill and their purpose is to give an update on egypt's transition to democracy. but they're likely to run into a buzz saw over this issue of how they're dealing with these democracy control groups,

support groups. wolf? >> jill doughtery, thanks very much. we'll speak to senator john mccain. he's furious at the egyptian government for what they're doing to these americans trying to promote democracy in egypt. that interview coming up. let's get to the red-hot republican presidential race. mitt romney and newt gingrich are going for the jugular only hours before the polls open in florida. just when you thought the primary season couldn't get a whole lot wilder or uglier, it does. cnn jim acosta is covering the baltd in florida and he's joining us now. jim? >> wolf, it is getting ugly if the polls are right mitt romney may be cruising to a big victory down here in florida with a scorched earth strategy that appears to be paying off. >> i'll tell you what, with a turnout like this i'm beginning to feel we might win tomorrow, what do you think? >> reporter: the florida primary has gotten primal. he granded newt gingrich a loser

after the former speaker vowed to fight all the way to the convention. >> that's what you do when you think you're going to lose. you say i'll go on no matter what happens. that's usually not a good sign. >> reporter: not to be outdone, gingrich portrays romney as a liar. >> we need to run a big truth campaign that beats the big lie campaign. >> reporter: teen surrogates are getting into the act. first it was a romney supporter going to gingrich events getting into the confrontations with the former speaker's press secretary. >> you are following him instead of romney? >> no. >> just offering a little perspective. >> and then rick tyler with the pro gingrich super pac said -- two can play at that game. >> i was trying to -- i couldn't keep up with the lies. mitt romney seems to have -- >> newt gingrich came to power after all preaching a higher standard in american politics. >> reporter: both sides are hitting each other with youtube. romney's new ad features tom

brokaw reporting on the former speaker's ethic's charges in the '90s. gingrich points to a reuters interview with the billionaire and his take on romney. if it's between obama and romney, he said there's not all that much difference. >> the leading left-wing billionaire in the world saying to the europeans, romney and observe are the same people. >> the latest polls like this show romney out to a commanding lead in this winner-take-all primary which may explain why gingrich is back to one of his tricks. bashing the media. >> as your nominee, i will not accept debates in the fall in which the reporters are the moderators because you don't need a second obama person in the debate. >> reporter: the more disciplined romney campaign was feeling lucid, allowing their candidate to toss bags of chips to the reporters he normally keeps as more than arm's length. >> time will tell.

>> no matter what happens here in florida, the romney adviser said the former massachusetts governor is not putting his campaign on cruise control noting you never knowing what happen next, wolf. and if the past is pro log that's probably a safe bet. and newt gingrich took a swipe against john mccain today. up next, senator mccain's interview here in "the situation room" and he'll respond. and an international incident that has rim really fired up and very angry. and the catholic church versus barack obama. the very strong language parishioners heard against the president yesterday. and a scene described as pure chaos. ten people dead after a massive pile-up on a smoky highway! >> you hear tires screeching. another crash occurring. people yelling out for help and you can't find them and don't know where they're at. it's so dark and so smoky that you're having difficulty even locating where the next crash is.

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let's go to jack cafferty for the cafferty file. as the florida primary comes down to the wire, newt gingrich finds himself trailing badly in the polls but getting support from two high-profile republicans. the question is whether it will do him any good. former presidential candidate, businessman herman cain endorsed gingrich over the weekend and called gingrich a patriot who's not afraid of bold ideas cain remains popular among grassroots conservative but he was forced out amid allegations of sexual harassment and marital infidelity. and sarah palin, why she hadn't endorsed anyone it seems like she's rooting for the newter. she's calling on republicans to vote for newt to shake up the establishment, quote, if for no other reason to rage against the machine, vote for newt, annoy a

liberal, unquote. palin has described the establishment republicans backing romney as cannibals. while palin said she respects mitt romney there's serious concerns about his record as a conservative and palin said this primary shouldn't be rushed to an end adding, quote, we need to vet this. i wonder if that means the way sarah palin was vetted for the vice president four years ago. meanwhile, newt gingrich may need all the help he can go, four polls show that romney is opened for a double-did jid lead over gingrich and up by 14 points. here's the question. how much will sarah palin and herman cain's endorsements help newt gingrich? go to cnn.com/cafferty file and post your comment on my blog or go to our post on "the situation room" facebook page. senator john mccain has been actively campaigning for mitt romney and that's making him a target of romney's main rival,

newt gingrich. he's been down this before as the 2008 republican president nominee. and senator mccain is here in "the situation room." thanks very much for coming in. it probably won't surprise you to hear that newt gingrich is on and off going directly after you as well. listen to this. >> every time we nominate a moderate we lose. you know? so 1996, we nominated a moderate, bill clinton wins the election by a big margin. 2008, we nominate a moderate and barack obama wins. >> talking about bob dole in '96. and you four years ago. what do you say about that? >> i can only say that, again, his campaign seems to be getting a little desperate. i'm not the opponent i think mitt romney is. but seriously i do reseptember a bit comments like that about bob dole, a man who left part of his body in the killing fields of italy in world war ii and by anyone's account who served with him one of the best republican

leaders in the senate we've ever had. but, look, my differences with speaker gingrich go back to the pork barrel earmark days when they got the majority speecher gingrich put out a memo, get earmarks for freshmen to get re-elected. incestuous relationship with the lobbyist and the earmarkless exploded and i fought against them and i said they were corruption. members of congress ended up in federal prison and it's still one of the more disgraceful chapters of our history at that period. >> he's really, newt gingrich, stepping up the rhetoric against mitt romney. today and yesterday, not just calling him a mass mats moderate, he's now a massachusetts liberal. listen to this. i'll play this clip. >> the conservatives are going to come together and decide they do not want a massachusetts liberal to be the republican nominee. we have a tremendous evident

under way to reach out to conservatives to get them to see that the only effective vote to stop a massachusetts liberal from becoming our nominee is to vote for newt gingrich. >> and today he went one step further. listen -- >> i don't believe the republican party will nominate a liberal who is pro abortion, progun control, protax increase, progay rights. >> he knows you support romney but this is getting pretty personal and pretty heated. >> tomorrow he'll be a communist. it's too bad. it's too bad, because that kind of rhetoric harms our eventual chances of president obama and it's driving up the approval ratings and that's why the debates should come to an end. with all due respect to your line of work, i think the debates should come to. end and let's get down to the regular campaigning. obviously, mitt romney is going to win tomorrow and hopefully that will put him on the road to getting this thing over with so

we can -- the real fight can begin. >> you think if he wins tomorrow decisively in florida it's over? >> no. but i think he is well on the way. you know, i don't think -- i think some of these candidates may hang around for a long, long time but you know how big and important florida is. >> florida, florida, florida, as my friend tim russert used to say. it's obviously very, very important in a presidential election year. let me get to some foreign policy issues. i don't know about you but i suspect you're outrages as many americans are, about what's going on in egypt right now. they're forcing, in effect, american citizens who are trying to promote democracy in egypt to hide out in the u.s. embassy in cairo because the egyptian military is cracking down on these folks, including the son of ray la hood, the former congressman and now the transportation secretary. you're in charge of this republican institute designed to

promote democracy in other countries. what do you say about this? >> i say what i said in a letter to the leaders, egyptian leaders, that this can affect our whole relationship, particularly our military aid. it's terribly disappointing. these organizations have been in many, many countries many times. they don't sway anybody's public opinion. they help them with the fundamentals of democracy. it was a reagan idea, by the way. and i'm proud of the work that ndi and the international republican institute have done under the national endowment for democracy. we've done great work and why they're doing this, i don't know. and by the way, sam la hood was doing a great job over there. >> because the united states as you know provides the them with $1.3 billion in military aid a year. the u.s. provides pakistan with billions of dollars in assistance as well but other pakistanis say they're going to

go ahead and try this physician who is helping the cia locate bin laden in pakistan and he could get the death sentence as a result of that. what do you say about that? >> i say is that there is enormous political turmoil in pakistan and we have to base our relations on them with the full and certain knowledge that the isi is assisting the network killing young americans. and we have to approach our relationship there a much more practical side. and by the way, we should be calling for the overthrow of assad. america should be saying, it's time to end his brutality as well. >> when you say the united states should be calling for bashar al assad to go. hadn't the obama administration done that? >> not as zero shave sif rosali

should. i would like to see a speech by the president. these people in these countries struggling for freedom, they look to america. i would love to see the president much more vocally involved. >> senator mccain, thanks for coming in. many catholics got more than a sermon yesterday in church. they heard a condemnation about obama accusing him of declaring war on religion. and investigators are hupting for millions of dollars missing from bankrupt mf global. now they fear the money may be lost forever. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions...

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president obama certainly is used to harsh political attacks but not necessarily like this one. inside a number of catholic churching yesterday across the country, a letter was read accru

accusing the president of assault on religious freedom. dan loathian, what's going on here? >> reporter: this is about the health care law requiring employers to provide a contraceptive no-cost coverage for employees. and this also would require universities, catholic universities are or also, catholic hospitals as well. for those that are currently not doing that because of religious beliefs they have a year to comply. now, because of that, what we saw this weekend across the country, priests were outrages, some in protest, began reading a letter and what you're looking at is a church in green bay, wisconsin. they were condemning actions by the obama administration. i should point out that there are some exceptions including churches, but these priests don't believe this is broad enough and, in fact, the president of the u.s. conference of catholic bishops went after the obama administration in on video on its website. >> that's a foul ball by any

standard. never before has the federal government forced individuals or organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. this shouldn't happen in the land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the bill of rights. >> now, this controversy also popped up on the campaign trail today in jacksonville, florida. we heard from newt gingrich, who accused the obama administration of being or being engaged in what he called, quote, a war against religion. >> their decision last week, that they would impose on every catholic institution, every jewish institution and every protestant institution, the obama care standard of what you have to buy is a direct violation of freedom of religion and an example of the increasingly dictatorial attitude of this administration. >> to be clear, there are religious organizations that are

applauding this decision. in fact, there's an interfaith group of more than a dozen faiths that believe this is the right thing to do and health & human services, secretary kathleen sebelius said in a quote, i believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventative services. she says that before this decision was made, that they carefully looked at a lot of different considerations but, wolf, clearly, there are a lot of people out there who don't agree with it. >> were there concerns, dan, about the political implications of this in an election year? >> that's a good question. as you know, catholics made up about 54% of the vote for president obama in 2008. they are swing voters. but an administration official telling me that that was not a consideration. that what they were focused on was the balance that secretary sebelius was talking about. but what is unclear at this

point is will this outrage grow among the larger catholic body beyond just a few priests that were protesting with this letter this sunday, wolf? >> dan loathian, thank you very much. win or lose in florida tomorrow, newt gingrich says he'll keep fighting for the republican nomination all the way to the convention in tampa late in the summer. our chief political analyst, gloria borger is here. he says he's in it for the lounge haul, what does that mean? >> trench warfare. i spoke with someone in his campaign and they believe that when you get to super tuesday more states are vaeng ous to them like texas, georgia, tennessee, oklahoma. and as you know, wolf, these are not winner take all. these are states that now the delegates are distributed proportionally so they believe that even if they don't win, they could go to the convention with a substantial number of delegates. think about this. what if ron paul had a substantial number of delegates and newt gingrich had a

substantial number of delegates and they got together, that could spell trouble for mitt romney. again, that's their pie in the sky. >> don't forget, rick santorum said he's in it for the long haul as well. >> what does this do to romney? >> it's not great news for romney because gingrich will continue to go on the campaign trail and he's no longer the massachusetts moderate. he's now the massachusetts liberal. this doesn't help you with conservatives. and in talking to somebody in the romney campaign, the big question is, i think -- can conservatives have enthusiasm for mitt romney? they're enthusiastic about beating barack obama. will that enthusiasm get them to the polls if mitt romney is the nominee? because they have been very luke-warm on mitt romney. south kacarolina, so that could continue to dog him. >> here's a poll that came out on the msnbc news poll. the question if the election

were held today who would you vote for, obama, 49%. romney, 41%. the issue of electability for so many republicans is very important. >> and that is, of course, in florida. if you look at that number in florida, what does that tell you? it tells you that m romney may be coalessing some conservatives but it tells you the economy has taken its toll on barack obama and that will continue to be a reet battleground state on the issue of the economy and the issue of housing. one other thing to keep in mind about mitt romney if he becomes the nominee and goes into the general election. this question of what do independent voters do? and over the last two months, mitt romney's unfavorable ratings with independent voters have gone up 20 points. so that's not good news when you want to win a general election. >> what goes up can still come down. >> absolutely. >> thanks, gloria, very much.

to wall street where confusion is turning to outrage amid disturbing new revelations about the more than $1 billion missing after the fall of a major corporation once run by the former new jersey governor, jon korzine. mary snowe is in new york with the details. >> wolf, officials trying to find out what happened to more than $1 billion of missing customer money from mf global. they aren't any closer to getting answers and there's doubt whether they will ever recover the lost money. three months after the collapse of mf global, the firm run by former new jersey governor, jon korzine, the "wall street journal" reports that $1.2 billion missing may never be recovered. to say david rosen is outraged is an understatement. he's missing $50,000 from an account he had with mf global. >> does any of this make sense to you? >> no. it doesn't make any sense at all. every transaction, every

sophisticated entity, every banking entity is electronic these days. >> how angry are you? >> furious. >> of mf global's customer money, the trustee said it returned 72%. of the rest missing a spokesman told us we understand the frustrations of everybody. where is the money? why don't we know the answer to the mystery? this is what happens when a broker/dealer hits the wall. it's chaotic. it is messy. it is complex. and it takes time to straighten it out. >> when you talk about figures like a million dollars is mind boggling. >> perhaps, but this attorney says he's not surprised. he worked to recover funds following the collapse of enron and worldcom. >> we just don't have a very effective regulatory system today. we have people who would like to be effective regulators but they're gutted by politicians and certain business groups. they're not funded sufficiently.

>> reporter: following mf global's collapse in october, investigators have been trying to determine if customer funds were used for other purposes. that's illegal. former mf global ceo jon korzine testified on capitol hill that he did not have any knowledge of any such transfers. another question before lawmakers is who knew what leading up to mf global's collapse. standard & poor's says days before mf global declared bankruptcy, it was told by the company's chief financial officer that ff global's capital and liquidity has never been stronger and mf global is in the strongest position ever as a public entity. and a week after that assessment was made about mf global's capital and liquidity, mf global collapsed. what led up to that and what role rating agencies played will be examined on capitol hill this thursday when the house subcommittee continues its

investigations. >> a billion dollars simply missing. the "wall street journal" said, vaporize, if you will. >> thanks very much. a missing murderer found weeks after a controversial pardon freed him from prison. up next, you'll find out what happens to him now. plus, horror, literally, striking from every direction ahead. the chilling new account from inside that deadly interstate pile-up. >> what just happened? tell me what happened. >> another accident, another accident going northbound. oh, my godness! that was a truck! maybe this vacation wasn't a good idea vacations are always a good idea ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money

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>> mississippi's attorney general said the man was found at a wyoming hotel what he was served with papers and said it will be up to the court to decide. the last minute pardons granted ignited a national firestorm. the attorney general is charging they don't meet the state constitution's requirements. and president obama is hanging out on google this hour, literally. you're looking at live pictures. you can see the president there, rather. he's participating in a chat rome of sorts on google. plus it's a feature allowing users to communicate through video connections. the president is actually taking some questions from some of the viewers there. it's actually a white house effort using social media to try to connect with supporters. the president has also held town hall meetings on twitter and on facebook. and the famous kennedy family home in hyannis port, massachusetts, has a new owner. the historic property was gifted

to the ted ward kennedy institute for the united states that at request of the late senator kennedy and his wife, victoria, fulfilling a longtime promise he made to his mother, rose, the moment be preserved for charitable use. >> we'll bring highlights from the president if we can. a panic desperation on a interstate horrific pile-up that cost ten people their lives. >> oh, my god, what is going on? >> okay we're getting help out there, okay? how many vehicles have been involved that you've seen. >> we cannot see, ma'am.

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we're getting a chilling new glimpse inside this deadly pile-up that crippled a major florida interstate. the highway patrol releasing what appears to be the first 911 call coming in as disaster was striking from almost every direction. here's cnn martin savidge. he has the latest on the investigation now under way. really horrific stuff. >> reporter: it is truly horrific stuff. what is shocking is the combination of factors that came into play. heavy smoke. dense fog. they descend on a busy highway and you get disaster. then there's other questions. exactly how did the fire start? that's the first and foremost question in investors h investigator's minds. the still smoldering skeletons of semitrucked and dismantled cared hinted at the nightmare on interstate 75 and u.s. 441 south of gainesville. it began late saturday night when a sudden mix of smoke and fog covered the road.

>> we can't see. we cannot see. it's impossible to see. the hayes is -- the smoke is like very thick. you can probably see only your hand in front of i do hear an ambulance or police officer coming down the road. >> the desperate and panicked voices on the 911 call paint a picture of a disaster as it unfolded. >> another accident, oh, my gosh! >> what just happened, tell me. >> another accident. another accident going northbound. >> okay. >> oh, my goodness. that was a truck. >> reporter: what followed was a series of accidents as at least a dozen passenger cars and seven semitrucks plowed into one another in the blind confusion that engulfed the north and southbound lanes. the agony went on four hours. >> here comes another one, oh, my god. he's coming too fast. oh, my god, there he goes. oh, that is bad. >> sergeant todd kelly was one of the first emergency responders to alive. >> you hear tires screeching,

another crash occurring, people yelling out for help but you can't find them. don't know where they're at. it's so dark and smoke where you're having difficulty locating where the next crash is. >> i hear people crying on the other side that's northbound. >> okay please slow down. please slope down. >> only daylight would reveal the scope of the tragedy. for much of sunday traffic had to be diverted around the scene as authorities worked to recover the dead and try to decipher how the first wreck occurred. the highways have been closed for a time before the crashes due to low visibility. but then were re-opened. now in the aftermath, many wonder why. >> we were aware we had bad condition there is and we were monitoring it but we don't have a crystal ball. as far as what we could have done, we took a proactive stance and we're all opened to taking and doing things better. >> and, wolf, authorities say they are still facing potential conditions like that again tonight. they may have to close the highways and they'll have to

wait and see. as to the brushfire, they say they're not sure how it started because first and foremost, there was no controlled burn going on. they hadn't had any lightning storms. it could have been a cigarette or somebody setting fire on purpose? they don't know but they are investigating. >> that's going to be a major investigation. 2w4r5i6r7b8g, martin. jack cafferty is asking, how much will sarah palin and herman cain help newt gingrich? and what's it worth to you to drive around in president obama's old car? you can put in your bid right now, if you have a million dollars. e announcer ] we know you don't wait until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement.

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>> let's get right back to jack for the cafferty file. jack. >> the question this hour is how much will sarah palin and herman cain help newt gingrich. june says let's see. you have a failed vice presidential candidate and a man who left the presidential race after he was accused of sexual harassment and having an affair. supporting a man who was having affair with his second wife and while married to his first wife. can we say birds of a feather. joy in texas rights the endorsement may help him with the extreme right wing base.

most republicans know gingrich is like a stick of dynamite and could blow at any time. i think palin and cain republican pretty inconscious sequenceal now. ideas like putting children to work and colonizing the moon are not helping, mr. gingrich. newt should start proeszing down to earth ideas. how about putting average americans back to work. steve writes zip, zilch, nada, the kind of voter who is attracted by sarah palin and herman cain is already in his camp. they like bombastic over the top attack dog rhetoric and newt is the masser of it. and david in virginia says i really think if they endorse newt gingrich, they should get a thank you know the from mitt romney. herman cain lost his mojo in carolina with the colbert antics

and sarah palin from hockey mom from hell to tv pundit. and you know where tv pundits sit in the value chain, don't you jack? yes, i do. throw a post on the situation room's facebook if you want to know more. >> i want you to see the next report it may look like an ordinary car but it once belonged to the president of the united states. the asking price goes way up to $1 million. jeanne moos coming up next. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things.

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will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. here's a look at this hour's hot shots. in spains, archaeologists is uncover a mass grave from the spanish civil war. in bang la dpesh, supporters of an opposition movement march during a protest. in istanbul, people stroll the streets during a heavy snow fall and in moscow ask, pigeons fly past the cathedral of christ the savior, the tallest orthodox church in the world. pictures coming in from around the world. it may look like an ordinary car but with special ties to the president of the united states, at least one person thinks it's

worth a whole lot more. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> ever wonder what happens to your old car after you get rid of it? well, when it's president obama's old car, this guy's trying to sell it on ebay. >> and you're asking a million bucks. >> a million bucks. that's a lot of money, isn't it. >> especially for a 2005 model that would normally sell for under $20,000. it's a top of the line chrysler 300 c with a powerful v8 engine. >> it's like a luxury hot rod. >> the posting includes the registration for the vehicle. then senator obama leased the gas guz already, but when he ran for president dumped it for an environmentallily correct ford escape hybrid. restaurant manager tim o'boil because it at a chicago area show room. >> on the way out, somebody said hey, you've better hang on to that car. i said why's that. he said well, it used to

belonging to president obama. i said yeah, right. he said yeah, i'm serious. >> for tim, this is what really brought home the obama connection, fiddling with the radio. he found mr. obama's preset favorite stations from rock 'n' roll to country. >> it was like holy cow, you know. this is the real deal here, you know. >> tim says he's absolutely al obama supporter. the president has said how much he misses driving. at a factory visit, he got applause for steering a few yards straight ahead. his old chrysler has fewer than 21,000 miles on it. you know the asking price is high when you have to write, please understand that the $1 million starting price is not a joke. the ebay ad mentions that iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad got $2.5 million for charity which his peugeot was auctionses off and it shoets that hitler's convertible

mercedes went for $8 million. tim says he looked but no obama leftovers under the floor mats, no french fries under the seat. those who have pointed out that they see the check engine light is on in the ebay photos, rest assured. everything, would. since no million dollar bids have come in, tim may consider lower offers. a million bucks for a 7-year-old chrysler is enough to make a driver lose control. jeanne moos, cnn. >> that's a lot of money, isn't it? >> new york. >> $1 million. certainly is a lot of money for an odor car. thanks very much for watching. that's it for me. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." situation room." the news continues next on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com live tonight from the cnn election center, tonight mitt romney holds a commanding lead on the final night of campaigning in florida. but newt gingrich vows to battle through the republican